


Great Trial and Tribulation

by garrisonbabe



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-23
Updated: 2012-10-23
Packaged: 2017-11-16 22:18:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/544451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garrisonbabe/pseuds/garrisonbabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“You fight so valiantly for them. Why?”</i> </p><p>  <i>And there was the real question, the one he knew his friends would be shocked to hear him answer. Castiel’s answer was much the same as Gabriel’s. “Because they’re better than us, Attariel.”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Great Trial and Tribulation

**Author's Note:**

> Own nothing, Kripke takes all.
> 
> I kind of just had the premise running around my head that Castiel has to defend humanity to one of his brothers and he pretty much just rants about the good he sees in his friends.
> 
> This is obviously au. Relates to [Always Have Faith](http://archiveofourown.org/works/538017), they're the same au. You don't need to read the other one, this one should still make sense. Just yeah.. I'm going to stop babbling now.
> 
> Enjoy!

Attariel looked to his captives, the Winchesters. Of all the things to persuade one of their greatest brothers into rebellion. He’d yet to find out why they were so special. Yes, they were vessels, but never before had humans caused such an uproar. Raphael was locked away in Purgatory with the demon Crowley and everything was falling apart.

Heaven was in disarray after the war, but Castiel was an archangel and Attariel found that where he was once fighting a rebel group he was now in lead of one.

Despite whatever Dean Winchester said he knew his brother would show up, it wasn’t like Castiel to just leave his charges to fend for themselves. Even against something as small as demons. Being captured by enemy angels? Castiel would show, it was just a matter of time.

—

Castiel landed in the warehouse that Dean’s spirit called him to and frowned. Attariel and his soldiers were surrounding the boys and Bobby. Such unnecessary conflict.

“Hello, Castiel.” Attariel’s vessel was large and blond, it reminded him a bit of a viking warrior.

“Hello, Attariel. What is the meaning of this?” So far it appeared as though none of them had taken any damage, Attariel wasn’t a savage after all.

Balthazar, Inias and Rachel landed, standing behind him with their swords ready. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, that no one would be foolish enough to choose to die here.

“I want to know why these creatures have led you to forsake everything our Father planned.” The disgust was clear in his vessels voice. All of his movements were restrained, as though he was just shy of lashing out.

“If our Father truly had an issue with what I’ve done do you think any of us would be standing here?”

Attariel scoffed and shook his head. “What is so important about them, brother? You served for so long with such loyalty. You were a great soldier.”

Castiel sighed. This was an argument he’d had many times since he rebelled for the Winchesters. “They are our Father’s greatest creation. I do not believe He wished for them all to perish at the hands of Michael and Lucifer. They deserve to live.”

“Deserve? They are flawed! They are weak and insignificant and—”

“You are blaspheming, Attariel. Watch what you say and show respect.” His tone was cold, his friends stared at him in shock. Castiel relaxed around them, around them he was Cas, but he couldn’t afford to be Cas here. Here was the Archangel Castiel, patron of Earth and protector of Humanity. He was the leader in Heaven and he wouldn’t sit by and watch his brothers throw a tantrum.

Attariel ground the jaw of his vessel and broke Castiel’s gaze. He’d yet to find anyone who would hold his gaze for very long. Well, other than Dean, but then Dean always was a very bold human.

“I mean no disrespect, brother.”

“Then lay down your weapons, end your rebellion and accept what has come to pass.”

“If I don’t?” Attariel met his gaze once more, defiance burning bright in his eyes and his true form.

Castiel shook his head and looked to the sky that was visible through the broken windows at the top of the warehouse roof. “You know what will happen Attariel. I will smite you.” He looked back to his brother. There was no negotiation to be had. If he threatened humanity and the Earth he would be put down. There would be a funeral procession and songs of mourning, but he would still have to die if he refused to obey. It had been a lesson hard learned that free-will wasn’t something you could simply give angels a crash course in and hope for the best. It was a slow process that required close supervision. Or maybe Castiel was simply an exception to the rule.

“Why do you fight for them and their imperfection? They are so hopelessly flawed, brother.”

“Yet they still try, don’t they? They could give up, but they don’t. Many of them still stand against struggles that appear hopeless and they fight anyway. They’re all flawed and they try anyway to make themselves better and to be better for each other.” He could see his friends staring at him, he’d never truly disclosed everything of his feelings on humanity before. If he was honest he was nervous about doing so, especially in front of Dean.

“Hate.” Attariel was still trying, still arguing.

“Love, compassion.”

“Illness, unrest.”

“Progress, the will to improve.” Castiel wasn’t going to let this go. Gabriel died for these things, Castiel himself died for these things and he would do his best to show his brother why.

“They maim and kill each other!”

“So do we!” His voice raised, the unbroken windows of the warehouse rattling within their frames. He could tell his own soldiers were getting nervous about his temper.

“Their emotions cloud everything, they destroy.”

“They show them what isn’t simply expedient, emotions show them what matters.” His friends were still paying rapt attention, looking at him like they were seeing him for the first time.

“Look at the planet, Castiel. They’ve poisoned it and trampled it underfoot. Our Father made this—”

“For them, brother. He made it for them.”

“They don’t deserve it.”

“And we do?” He couldn’t understand why Attariel was fighting so hard against him. Perhaps he was mourning Raphael, or maybe Raphael was just that much more convincing than Castiel.

“Their mortality… they’re barely born before they’ve died.”

“And yet the changes they bring are hard to fathom in their scale, aren’t they? Humans, so small and short-lived and yet… and yet in only one of their generations this entire planet can change. They are so willful and that in of itself seems to give them power.” The tension in the room wasn’t dissipating and only seemed to get worse when Castiel implied humans having power. He knew Attariel couldn’t see it, not yet.

“You fight so valiantly for them. Why?”

And there was the real question, the one he knew his friends would be shocked to hear him answer. Castiel’s answer was much the same as Gabriel’s. “Because they’re better than us, Attariel.” Dean’s face changed in a split second. Any calm resolve he’d had shattered and he openly gaped at the archangel.

His brother was taken aback, staggering as he stood. “Better than us? They’re not better than us! They’re broken!” Castiel didn’t deny or agree, he didn’t need to. “This, this is all for the Michael-sword, isn’t it?”

That accusation was made often. It had some truth, yes he did decide to rebel for Dean, but it wasn’t simply Dean. Heaven had changed from what he remembered when their Father was ruling. It had become broken and chaotic, too unstable. He had faith in his Father, not in his brothers. It was Dean who finally made him make up his mind to do something about it.

“In a way, yes.”

“Have you known him, brother?”

Castiel narrowed his eyes, what difference did that make? What right was it of Attariel’s to ask? He would not lie, though, not with Dean right there. There was no point in lying, anyway. He wouldn’t be ashamed of it. There was nothing in which to find shame. “Yes, I have.”

He could sense a change in Rachel, though he didn’t know why. She seemed to retreat into herself, putting up a wall and blocking him out. Odd.

“Why? What is so important about him?”

Dean was staring directly at Castiel and he caught his eye for a moment, smiling softly. “He represents everything worth saving of humanity.”

Dean swallowed roughly and tried to crawl into himself, drawing his knees up to hide. Sam and Bobby looked between them, both of them obviously not expecting what Castiel revealed.

“How? He’s sinful, boastful—”

“Humble, righteous, intelligent, caring and selfless.” He looked back to Attariel. If he needed to he’d explain everything he’d found in his friends. Everything he’d found when he had nothing left to put faith in. “When I found Dean in the Pit he was broken, the flesh of his soul had been stripped away and was rotting. He turned to me when I approached and stared in disbelief. I put a wall around us to keep Hell away while I told him he was to be saved. He sat and talked with me. Do you know what he tried to do first?”

“Cut at you with his blade?”

Castiel raised one hand and broke the legs of his Attariel’s vessel. His brother screamed and fell to the ground. “Mind your tongue.” His hand fell back to his side, his brother healing but not standing again. “No, the first thing Dean said to me was, ‘save someone else.’” The other angels gasped and looked at Dean, but he was resolutely staring at the floor. Sam and Bobby also watched him, their faces shifting with each new emotion as they listened. “He was in the Pit, tortured and torturing and yet his first action was to tell me to save the young woman he had on his rack. Even through the corruption of Hell his soul was bright. Do you know how many times he tried to convince me to save someone else, Attariel, before you judge him as unworthy of my love?”

Dean’s eyes rose to Castiel’s, he’d never heard this story before. He’d never asked and Castiel knew better than to just start talking about his time in the Pit.

“How many?”

“Over five-hundred.” Dean’s head shot up, disbelief washing over his features and draining the blood from his skin. He breathed heavily, asking questions with his eyes that would be answered later if he still truly wished to know. Every angel in the room was still staring at him, trying to examine him.

Attariel shook his head, looking between Castiel and his charge. “Impossible. No human would do that.”

“Do I need to show you the memory? Dean sat with me and recounted souls both he and Alistair had torn apart and told me to go save them instead because they deserved it more. After the last I put my hand on his shoulder and gave him a blessing. I then said to him, ‘you’re in Hell and you’re still trying to save people Dean, doesn’t that tell you that you truly do deserve to be saved?’” Castiel showed Dean an apologetic smile to try and comfort him. He knew it was uncomfortable for him to be on display. Castiel would probably be yelled at later, chastised for it, but it needed to be known.

Attariel stood, seemingly enraged. “There’s no way, Castiel. None, he was under the influence of demons and even if it were true, he was in Hell! He made a deal with a demon and got himself condemned! He pulled you from obedience, from love and loyalty. He should be thrown back to damnation!”

Castiel clenched his teeth, willing himself not to blow Attariel apart, vessel and all. He’d tried to argue his side calmly, but it would seem a calm approach wouldn’t work. “I grow tired of your disrespect, brother. The truth of everything is that Dean Winchester pleaded with me to save seven-hundred and forty-two souls before he would finally relent and come with me. When I took the wall down Alistair tried to have me trapped and Dean slashed at him with his blade in my defense!”

Castiel was slowly stepping closer, his brother trying to appear strong while backing away. He knew his anger was bleeding through but there was no point in hiding it anymore. He was sick and tired of fighting and for the threat of throwing Dean back to Hell to be made… he’d been pushed too far. It would seem his brother needed to be reminded that Castiel was an archangel now and that he would not tolerate such blatant flippancy.

“You followed the Righteous Man—”

“I followed Dean! I fell for him because he was more closely following our Father’s will than we were! We are servants of Heaven, he is a servant of God. There is a difference between the two, Attariel. He was damned for his brother, because he loved his brother too much to let him die. After he was raised he felt worthless, he was exhausted. The apocalypse rested on his shoulders and he still fought! He didn’t give up, even when Michael descended upon him and his brothers he was true to what he knew and loved. He fought for his brothers, for his family and for billions of people he’d never know. His selflessness and his loyalty saved this planet, saved our Father’s greatest creations. You show me anyone in our ranks who has done better than that man!” Castiel pointed directly at Dean, above them the sky was growing clouded, thunder rolling through the air as a massive storm miles away began blowing toward them.

Attariel still wasn’t backing down. “Loyalty for his brother, the boy with demon blood. He’s an abomination, will you try to convince me of his worth as well?”

Castiel straightened, his demeanor still and unmovable. “Yes, I will. Sam Winchester was fed Azazel’s blood, one of the most powerful demons to ever exist and yet he is still a good man. He still loved and tried to do the right thing. When I first met him I could only see the corruption of the blood trickling into his soul, but it was still bright. I have heard him called abomination, desecration, corrupted, broken, worthy of damnation and death and have myself said such things in the past. Once I knew him I learned differently—”

“Castiel, are you seri—” Attariel was slammed to floor, his mouth opened to scream in pain but making no sound.

“You’d do well not to interrupt me, Attariel. Sam Winchester fought against what he was destined to be, loved his brother and family. The only reason he broke the final seal was because of Zachariah manipulating a voicemail message from his brother. When it counted, after he said yes and Lucifer took control of him our brother began to beat Dean. He’d already killed me, he killed Bobby and he began to break Dean.” Castiel allowed Attariel to stand once more, the other angel didn’t meet his gaze, he simply listened. “Lucifer bragged about killing Dean with Sam watching and in that moment Sam did something unheard of. His willpower, his love and loyalty to his brother overpowered and archangel. Lucifer killed Gabriel, he would have destroyed this planet and yet Sam Winchester, the boy with demon blood overpowered him! Do you not see that for the miracle it is? Lucifer killed me, Attariel. I was dead! Yet a human overpowered him and dragged him into the cage! You show me any of our brethren who’ve done better. Any of them who’ve shown such undying loyalty and heroism. Show them to me!”

Attariel was silent still, not making any move to or away from Castiel.

“You can’t, can you? You can’t show me any of our own rank who are better than these men. Do you know why?” Castiel stepped in close to Attariel, forcing the other angel to look at him. “It is impossible to find an angel who is better than these men because there are none. They are better than us and they always will be. That is why our Father created them. It’s easy to be righteous, to fight the evil things stalking the shadows when you’re made of light. It’s easy to be a soldier when you were created perfect, made to obey without fear. They are flawed, they are fearful and they are so much better than we could ever hope to be.”

Attariel’s eyes became searching, he looked through his brother with determination. “You love them.”

“I love them.”

“Show me.” Castiel tilted his head, unsure of what his brother was asking. “Show me the love you have for them. You obviously will not back down. Billions of years, your entire existence and even when Lucifer fell you didn’t. So show me what changed your loyalty and allegiances, Castiel.”

Castiel thought for a moment. What could he show Attariel that would accurately express the love and devotion he had for his friends? He looked to them, they were staring at him like they didn’t know what to think or what he was even doing. He smiled and found the perfect memory. His eyes turned back to Attariel, who was patiently waiting for his next move. “You’ve never felt emotions like this, brother, I must warn you that it will be overwhelming and probably very painful.”

Attariel nodded and Castiel placed two fingers on his forehead, transferring the moment he chose with all of the emotions he’d felt at the time to his brother’s consciousness. When he pulled his fingers away Attariel fell to his knees and clenched his chest, breathing deeply with borrowed lungs. His eyes watered as he tried to control the onslaught. He looked back up to Castiel, his eyes bare. “How do you withstand that?”

Off to the side Dean, Sam and Bobby were gaping, confused at what Castiel did. He smirked. “The same way they do, with great trial and tribulation.”

Attariel nodded and tried to steady himself. “Brother, I…” The other angel took another breath and gathered his resolve, moving to sit on his heels. He looked at Castiel with respect and awe. “I surrender. We will lay down our arms and we will follow you.”

Castiel smiled and waved them away, giving them time to think and to tell the rest of their side to capitulate. The bindings that held his friends gave way, allowing them to stretch and stand. Balthazar advanced, looking at Castiel with amusement and caution in equal measure. “What did you show him?”

He smiled to his friend, glancing at the trio just a few feet away who perked up, obviously curious as well. “I showed him Dean and Sam bickering, Dean stitching a wound in Sam’s side as Bobby lectured them on not being so sloppy during a hunt. Then once Dean stitched Sam’s side he pulled me aside and thanked me for saving their lives. That is what I showed him.”

—

Dean waited for the world to settle, he hated flying but at least with Cas he didn’t actually have to see the ground falling from beneath him. Bobby and Sam looked at him weirdly, like he did something. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. He pulled Cas through the kitchen and took him to the porch.

His friend looked sheepish, like was expecting to get yelled at. It was so different from the guy who slammed another angel into concrete for cutting him off mid-sentence.

“Cas, did you mean what you said back there?”

Cas smiled and cupped Dean’s face with one hand. “Yes, and yes the story I told of you from the Pit was true. If I hadn’t walled us off it would have taken you three centuries in Hell’s time to allow me to pull you back up.”

Dean glanced to his shoulder. “So that’s what the scar is? You blessed me in Hell and burned me?”

Cas chuckled and removed his hand, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “Something like that. My Grace touched your soul and branded it. It was unintentional. Nothing like it had ever happened before. A blessing in Hell was unheard of.” The angel looked at him fondly and Dean felt a little suffocated. Hearing that he was everything Cas saw good about humanity just didn’t make sense. He didn’t deserve that kind of attention. “Dean, go back inside, have dinner with your family. We can talk later. I promise.”

Castiel flew away, the spot in front of him suddenly empty and he still had thirty-thousand questions but they could wait. He needed a drink first.

**Author's Note:**

> When Attariel asks Castiel, "have you known him?" he means biblically.


End file.
